In Mali, journalist briefly jailed for reporting on Gao

Police detained freelance reporter
Moctar Barry on November 15, 2012, in the central town of Sévaré, after he returned
from reporting on events in
Gao, an Islamist-occupied city in the northern half of Mali, local journalists
said.

Barry, contributor to news site Droit Libre TV (DLTV) and
Radio Netherlands Worldwide, said in an interview with a local news outlet that police
told him his passport and a document licensing him for journalistic work were not
valid. Barry said he told police he had cleared eight
security checkpoints with the same documents while traveling in the area days
before his arrest.

While Barry was in police custody, officers
searched his emails, photos, and video recordings on his laptop and confiscated
his memory cards, he told CPJ. During the interrogation, officers accused him
of first being a recruit of the Jihadi militants, and then a spy, he said.

Barry was released without charge five days later on
November 20, news reports said.